There's a new tiny tablet in town: Apple has just released an upgraded iPad mini, with a whole slew of improvements over its predecessor. In honor of this new addition, let's take a look at the full range and how the different options compare.

The iPad mini is Apple's smallest and lightest tablet. All other models have screens that are 11 inches or larger, but the newest mini has an 8.5-inch screen — slightly bigger than its predecessor, which had an 8.3-inch screen. Said display is also less advanced than the rest of the range.

The model up is the standard iPad. We're on the 11th generation, released in 2025. It's powered by an A16 chip and boasts a Liquid Retina display. The screen is 11 inches (no 13-inch option) and, perhaps surprisingly, it's the thickest of the lineup. At this point, it's the only iPad not to have Apple Intelligence built-in.

A level up again is the iPad Air. The newest version is the 8th generation iPad Air, released in 2026, powered by the M4 chip. You can choose between 11-inch and 13-inch screens. There's a 1TB option (the two models down top out at 512GB) and support for the Apple Pencil Pro.

The iPad Pro is the most powerful, premium option. The newest version is the 8th-gen iPad Pro, which came out in 2025 and has an M5 chip, but you can still pick up a 7th-gen model with an M4 chip (from 2024). It boasts a high-end display, Face ID, studio-quality microphones, and is fully compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard. You can choose between 11-inch and 13-inch models.

Scroll down to see the best current prices on the full lineup, or hop to the bottom of the page for a handy specs comparison.

The full range

Apple iPads: specs compared

• Safari is getting some useful updates for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS
• Vertical tabs will arrive, but only in the dev betas for now
• Other features like Adaptive Dark Mode and Siri AI browser tools are coming, too, along with our first glimpse of the new Audio Intelligence capabilities

On the global web browser stage Safari lags behind Chrome, but when it comes to Apple's 2.5 billion customers, it reigns supreme. Yet, even those devoted users might've noticed that their favorite browser was lacking at least one long-sought feature. Now, with the introduction of Dev Betas for iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, and macOS 27.3, they're getting their wish.

In beta today, the platform upgrade brings a series of relatively small but important updates to Safari across the iPhone Duo, iPad, and Mac. And chief among them is vertical tabs.

As is often the case, Apple didn't invent this idea. I started using vertical tabs in — of all things — Microsoft Edge years ago, and even Chrome recently added them. Now, with the Safari update, you can open the Safari View Menu or hop into Settings and select vertical tabs.

By default, the tabs, which will live on the left side of your browser window in iPadOS and macOS (and iOS for the iPhone Duo), appear as icons — a space-saving measure. You can hover over any of them for a quick look at the hidden browser window.

There are other vertical tab features like the ability to pin tabs at the top of your list by dragging and dropping them, and tab groups. The tabs will work on the iPad and, yes, the new iPhone Duo in portrait and landscape mode.

The platform updates also bring a new kind of Dark Mode. Instead of only showing the mode on web pages that support it, Safari will offer to tune unsupported pages to Dark Mode too — but in a way, Apple promises, that won't ruin the sites.

The Adaptive Dark Mode will automatically darken light backgrounds, invert logos and graphics, recolor vector artwork, lift raised surfaces, and even detect shadows and adjust them. It will not touch already darkened sites. For developers, there are new tags they can use that will prevent Adaptive Dark Mode from adjusting them.

The update is also bringing some Siri AI browser tools to Safari for hardware that supports Apple Intelligence. Siri AI already has, with your permission, an awareness of what's on your screen, but with this update it'll see entire web pages (beyond what you see in the screen frame) and even hidden tabs.

This can be useful when you want to do wholesale organization and group tabs. Say you want all tabs relating to a trip to Malta sorted by activity, or you need all your car shopping tabs grouped and organized by car price.

Siri AI can, with new Custom Actions, do your bidding on the browser and clean up your history by topic, site, and time period. It might be useful when you don't want someone seeing that you've been shopping for the last few days on a particular site for that coveted gift. There might be other reasons for targeted history scrubbing, but no need to get into that here.

Other notable updates arriving in iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS 27.3, watchOS 27.3 Dev Beta 1 include:

• Siri App Actions will let Siri AI dig even more deeply into your system by organizing files, making trip plans, creating playlists, scheduling group messages, and finding the best photos to share.
• The promised Apple Health app overhaul, which uses Apple Intelligence, will give you more insights from your health data.
• The pair of Audio Intelligence features that will work with your Apple Watch Series 12:
  • Live rewind, for recalling what was said in conversation (you have to double-press the watch crown to read the last snippet of conversation). It might be a great tool for settling he said/he said arguments.
  • Siri Recap, which, when enabled, can use Apple Intelligence to recap and summarize an entire talk, speech, lesson, or maybe a TED Talk.

The changes are coming to 27.3 betas first and will eventually roll out to the other platforms in a full release. For now, though, all of these updates are found only in the Dev Betas, which are typically the earliest and potentially buggiest releases before Apple moves on to Public Betas (which anyone can install) and the final releases. There's no word on when the full releases will arrive, and we would caution you against installing Developer betas on any of your everyday Apple devices.

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: One-minute review

It's been a long time coming, but Apple has finally addressed more than a few people's wish lists with its latest-generation iPad mini. Yes, it's still the smallest iPad in terms of display size, not price, but this upgrade is really about the sum of its parts.

The jump to OLED is the headline upgrade, and paired with a thinner, lighter build and plenty of performance under the hood, it makes a big, big difference. The 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR display is an absolute joy to use; whether I'm watching a film, playing a game, editing photos, or just scrolling through iPadOS, everything looks fantastic.

If you've been holding out for an OLED iPad mini, this is the upgrade you've been waiting for. It's a major improvement, even without ProMotion, and the improved refresh responsiveness makes everyday scrolling and swiping feel that much more seamless.

The design is another big part of the story. At just 5.33mm thick and 254g, the iPad mini is deceptively slim and light. The mini was already the iPad I find easiest to take pretty much anywhere, but this new model is even more comfortable to hold and use for longer stretches. And while it might look familiar, there are some meaningful changes beyond the thinner build. The new IP67 rating adds welcome water and dust resistance, giving the mini more durability for everyday use, and giving you peace of mind if you're sharing it with family members.

It also packs plenty of power. The A20 Pro chip makes multitasking, photo editing, gaming, and even some of Apple's newer AI features, which demand a fair bit of power, feel effortless. Battery life has been solid in my testing, too, getting close to Apple's 10-hour claim, while the N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity. If you opt for the Cellular model, you also get Apple's C2 modem.

Of course, all of this comes at a price. The iPad mini starts at $699, so it's certainly not the cheapest iPad in Apple's lineup. The model I've been testing is the 512GB Wi-Fi and Cellular version with the optional nano-texture display, which comes in at $1,099. That's a considerable investment for a tablet this size, but the mini has never really been about offering the lowest entry price. It's for people who want this particular screen size and the portability that comes with it, and Apple has now managed to squeeze a whole lot more value into this little package.

There are still a couple of things I'd like to see, most notably ProMotion and a more exciting selection of colors. But those small issues don't take away from how much I enjoy using this iPad. The OLED display makes a world of difference, the slimmer build is even better, and the combination of performance, battery life, and added durability makes this a seriously capable little tablet. If you're already a fan of the iPad mini, you'll love a lot about this generation.

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Specs

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Pricing and availability

Apple's new iPad mini starts at $699 / £699 / AU$1,099 for the Wi-Fi model, or $849 / £849 / AU$1,349 if you want Wi-Fi and Cellular. Apple began taking preorders on October 28, ahead of the tablet's official launch on November 6, 2026.

You can configure your iPad mini with 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage. If you want Apple's nano-texture display, you'll need to choose either the 256GB or 512GB model, and that adds $100 / £100 / AU$200 to the price. Apple also includes a polishing cloth in the box with nano-texture models.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Design

• Super light and thin
• This makes for more of an upgrade than you might expect from reading the specs
• Still the most portable iPad in the lineup

The new iPad mini is really, really thin — almost deceptively so — and won't weigh your hand down at all. At just 5.33mm thick and 254g, it's noticeably slimmer and lighter than the previous generation, which measured 6.35mm and weighed 295g.

The iPad mini has always been the most portable tablet in Apple's lineup, offering much of the full-size iPad experience in a much smaller package. That's still true here, but the latest model takes that portability even further. It's easy to hold in one hand while scrolling, throw into a bag for a trip to the cafe, and take pretty much anywhere. It's genuinely pocketable when you're wearing a jacket, and, interestingly, weighs less than an iPhone Duo.

The overall design hasn't changed dramatically, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The slimmer build brings it even closer to offering that 'sheet-of-glass' look and feel, while also making it more comfortable to hold for longer viewing sessions. The display is larger, too, thanks to the slimmer bezels, so you're getting more screen without sacrificing that compact form factor.

On the front, Apple has moved the 12MP Center Stage camera so it's on the top edge when you're holding the mini in landscape orientation, aligning it with the rest of the iPad lineup. There's still no Face ID; Touch ID is built into the power button instead, and it works quickly to unlock the tablet and authorize purchases. The separate volume buttons sit nearby, with their orientation changing depending on how you're holding the iPad.

Flip it around and you'll find the centered Apple logo, rear camera, and Adaptive True Tone flash. The USB-C port is on the bottom when you're holding the mini in portrait mode, and a microphone sits near the Center Stage camera.

One thing you might notice is what's missing here: the speaker grilles. Apple has done away with those cutouts as part of its new Acoustic Audio system, which I'll get into more in the Audio section below. It makes for a much cleaner look, and the change also makes IP67 water and dust resistance possible — a first for the iPad mini, and a welcome addition. I've tested it with a little water, and the iPad stands up just fine; it's nice to know you can take it to the beach or use it in the rain. It's also some useful added durability for a tablet the whole family could easily use.

The one area where I'm a little less enthusiastic is the choice of colors. The A17 Pro iPad mini came in Blue and Purple, while here you can choose between Starlight and Midnight. I've been testing Midnight, which has a very dark blue look, but it does show fingerprints on the rear. Paired with Apple's new TechWoven Folio, though, it makes for a nice-looking setup.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Display

• OLED display is a terrific addition
• Content looks exceptionally great here, with rich blacks and vibrant colors
• Nano-texture pairs really well with OLED and lets you use the iPad mini in any light

It feels like we've been asking Apple to bring an OLED display to the iPad mini for years — it's certainly been a wish of mine — and Apple finally delivered this year. Whether you're coming from the previous-generation iPad mini or older model, this is pretty close to a night-and-day experience.

The 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR display is an absolute joy to use. It's OLED, so blacks are properly inky, colors really pop, and everything looks fantastic. It's a great tablet for running through some tasks, drawing with the Apple Pencil, FaceTiming with family and friends, and especially for watching content.

Admittedly, it's only 0.2 inches larger than the previous display, so you're not getting much extra usable space. But the visuals are much more vibrant, everything looks crisper, and it's a more immersive view. At this size, it's made a real difference in my iPad mini experience.

I found myself editing photos in Pixelmator Pro and Apple's Photos app, drawing in Procreate, and playing games like Mini Metro and Mini Motorways to see how quickly visuals render and how much colors can pop. Watching films like Toy Story 5 or Moana on Disney+ was a blast, too, and the same goes for catching up on Ted Lasso on Apple TV. HDR content, in particular, benefits from the OLED panel, with more pronounced contrast and colors that really jump off the screen. This is a fantastic little movie-watching tablet.

The new mini also gets a brightness boost, with peak brightness reaching 1,200 nits for HDR and 600 nits in everyday use, up from 500 nits on the previous generation. You'll notice that difference indoors and outdoors, especially when watching HDR content. And when you're using the iPad mini outside, that extra brightness paired with NanoTexture makes a big difference.

Which brings us to the optional nano-texture upgrade. Available on the 256GB and 512GB models, it costs an extra $100 / £100 / AU$200, and adds Apple's proprietary, etched coating over the Super Retina XDR display. It's incredibly effective at reducing glare from both natural and artificial light sources, as well as reflections on the screen. Apple has brought this technology to several other products, including the iPad Pro, MacBooks, iMacs, and Studio Displays, and there's also a slightly different implementation on the iPhone Duo.

I've found nano-texture particularly useful in direct sunlight. It effectively mutes reflections and cuts down glare, making the display much easier to see when you're out and about. It also gives the screen a more paper-like feel, which makes using either the Apple Pencil Pro or Apple Pencil USB-C particularly nice. I've found myself bringing the iPad mini along to cafes and meetings to take notes, and its size makes it feel a little like carrying a classic Moleskine notebook.

It's not a cheap upgrade, and I haven't tested the standard glass and nano-texture versions side by side. But paired with a more portable iPad than the Air or Pro, and one that now has extra durability, it makes the mini even more enjoyable to use when you're out and about.

Another benefit of the move from LCD to OLED is better display responsiveness, even if the display here doesn't quite reach the 120Hz standard of ProMotion. Apple describes this as sub-pixel millisecond control, and in everyday use, scrolling and swiping feel a little more seamless than on the previous generation, and it does make the display feel that bit more fluid.

It's not, however, ProMotion. The iPad mini is still limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, rather than the super-smooth 120Hz you'll find on Apple's Pro models. As I've said in previous iPhone and iPad reviews, if you're not coming from a device with a higher refresh rate, you probably won't miss it. It's an odd omission here, especially at this starting price, but I've still found the iPad mini responsive in use, with no noticeable issues in everyday use.

All in all, the move to OLED makes a big difference. The new mini is a joy to watch content on, and even using iPadOS feels better on this display.

• Display score: 4.5 / 5

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Cameras

• A welcome move for the front-facing camera
• Still a 12MP main camera on the back

Like every other iPad in Apple's lineup, and most that came before it, the iPad mini has two cameras. Around the back is a 12MP wide camera paired with an Adaptive True Tone flash. It's nearly identical to the main camera on the previous-generation iPad mini, and if you do choose to take photos with the mini — and it's probably the most acceptable iPad for that — you'll get some good shots. I wouldn't expect it to rival an iPhone 18 Pro or even an iPhone Air, though.

The real upgrade is the camera built into the bezel around the front display. It's now a 12MP Center Stage camera, positioned centrally on the side of the iPad when you're using it in portrait mode, so that when you're holding it horizontally, it's in the right place for video calls. And when you pair the iPad mini with Apple's Folio Case or a third-party alternative, that's generally how you'll have it positioned when propped up.

Performance here is great for video calls, whether you're using Apple's own FaceTime or jumping into a Webex meeting, Slack huddle, or a Zoom or WhatsApp call. I looked clear and stayed in focus, but as someone who likes to walk and talk, I particularly appreciated Center Stage. As I moved around, the camera and onboard software worked together to keep me in the shot, using smart panning and zooming to follow my movements.

• Cameras score: 4 / 5

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Software

• Runs iPadOS 27 out of the box
• Full multitasking with windows is great on this form factor
• Support for two Apple Pencil models

The iPad mini is running iPadOS 27 out of the box, which certainly brings a lot more to the table than previous versions, particularly anything before iPadOS 26. For starters, the iPad mini supports the new Siri AI beta if you opt in and are in an eligible region. You also get the full windowed app experience that Apple introduced with iPadOS 26.

That means you can have several apps open at once, switch between them, and layer windows on top of each other. The mini's 8.5-inch display isn't the largest canvas for this kind of multitasking, but it feels surprisingly expansive, and can handle several apps at once.

Multitasking felt fast, and I often found myself using the iPad mini for more than just one thing at a time, ranging from streaming content or gaming to productivity tasks like emailing and web browsing. I also used it for creative pursuits, including journaling, drawing, and photo editing, as well as simply settling in with a good read.

What I really love about the size here is that, this iPad's name notwithstanding, this is not an especially small display. At 8.5 inches it's closer to the size of a classic notebook or book, so it actually feels pretty expansive, especially when you're working between different apps. Some days, though, I connected a keyboard and trackpad and plugged the iPad mini into an external display to give myself another window to work with.

That's a particularly welcome addition, because the mini is no longer limited to simply mirroring its display on an external monitor. You can also extend your workspace, which opens up even more possibilities for multitasking and getting things done.

I found myself pulling images and other assets from Photos, Files, and Messages, then dropping them straight into Pixelmator Pro. Moving between apps and juggling different windows felt effortless, and it's a good example of what the iPad mini can help you do beyond the usual browsing, streaming, and reading.

Of course, a lot of that comes down to the hardware under the hood. I'll touch on this more in the next section, but the iPad mini runs Apple's A20 Pro chip, from the same family of processors as those powering the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Duo. However, performance differs depending on which storage configuration you choose, so it's worth looking a little closer.

• Software score: 4 / 5

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Performance

• A20 Pro is very, very fast
• Plenty of a runway for demanding tasks
• You'll need to pay more for the best version of the chip

As I mentioned above, the iPad mini runs Apple's A20 Pro chip, but there's a tale of two chips here. I've been testing the 512GB model with Wi-Fi and Cellular, which gets the full-fat version of Apple's latest silicon.

If you opt for the 128GB or 256GB configurations, you get a five-core CPU (two super cores and three efficiency cores), a seven-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. The 512GB version, meanwhile, comes equipped with a six-core CPU (two super cores and four efficiency cores), the same seven-core GPU, and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine. That's the same chip configuration as in the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo, while the lower-storage models get a slightly more binned-down version.

I don't suspect those extra CPU cores will make a night-and-day difference for most everyday tasks. You might see more of a benefit with particularly processor-intensive workloads or when running more AI locally on-device, but for the vast majority of people even the lower-storage iPad minis should feel plenty fast.

This is the second generation of iPad mini to get a Pro chip option, and it enables the tablet to tackle higher-performance tasks with ease. In Geekbench 7, my review unit scored 3,998 in single-core tests and 11,485 for multi-core. In Geekbench 6, it scored 4,720 and 12,697, respectively. Those are very impressive results, particularly compared with the scores for the previous-generation iPad mini, which scored 2,829 in single-core and 6,938 in multi-core in Geekbench 6.

Those are impressive numbers on paper, and in real-world testing over the past seven days, the iPad mini has been a champ. Apps open incredibly quickly, photo edits happen without a hitch, and even more demanding tasks, like using the Super Resolution option in Pixelmator Pro, and other power-hungry image upscaling tools, felt effortless. Everything feels very, very responsive, and I haven't found myself waiting around for the iPad mini to catch up.

I also put the Apple Intelligence features through their paces, including Clean Up and Expand Images in Photos, alongside multimodal requests with the new Siri AI beta. I tried a few third-party apps with AI-powered features, too. These are the kinds of tasks where having Apple's latest silicon and Neural Engine come into play, and the iPad mini handled my testing without any noticeable slowdown.

• Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Battery & connectivity

• A lot of mileage for a mini iPad
• Impressive results in our battery test
• Apple's C2 modem serves up faster connectivity

Apple continues to promise all-day battery life with the iPad mini: up to 10 hours of web browsing over Wi-Fi or video, and up to nine hours of web browsing over a cellular data connection. Inside is an 18.9-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery, and in my testing I've found it lasts close to 10 hours, depending on what I'm doing.

That's a pretty good result, especially considering the upgraded display. I suspect the OLED panel is more efficient, and paired with the A20 Pro, it makes for a nice combination. In Future PLC's lab battery test, the new iPad mini lasted an impressive 14 hours and 24 minutes. That's a substantial improvement over the previous generation, which managed 10 hours and 36 minutes in the same test.

Connectivity also gets a meaningful upgrade. The iPad mini features Apple's N1 chip, which supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread. If you opt for the Cellular model you'll also get Apple's C2 modem, which the company says offers up to 50% faster speeds compared to its previous modem.

I've been testing the cellular connection on Verizon's network in the US, with access to 5G, and it's performed pretty well. Throughout New Jersey, I tracked download speeds ranging from 600 to 1,200Mbps, with upload speeds around 35 to 62Mbps. That's plenty for streaming, downloading files, browsing, and staying connected when I'm away from Wi-Fi.

• Battery and connectivity score: 4 / 5

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: Should you buy it?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Apple iPad mini 8.5-inch (2026) review: How I tested

I've been using iPads since the original launched, so I've seen Apple's smallest tablet evolve quite a bit over the years. I've been testing the 512GB Wi-Fi and Cellular version of the iPad mini (8th Generation with A20 Pro) in Midnight, with the optional NanoTexture finish, for the past seven days.

During that time, I've put it through its paces with a range of apps across entertainment, creative, and productivity, while also exploring many of the features in iPadOS 27. I've also used it with Apple's new TechWoven Folio, alongside both the Apple Pencil USB-C and Apple Pencil Pro, to get a feel for how well the mini works for everyday use, creativity, and getting things done.

First reviewed: November 2026

• The 8th-gen iPad mini has a 4,900 mAh capacity battery
• It's a slight reduction on what we saw with the previous model
• However, actual battery life hasn't been reduced

Apple is always rather coy when it comes to the battery capacities in its devices, but European Union regulations mean it has to now publish this data publicly: and we just learned that the new 2026 iPad mini has a battery capacity of 4,900 mAh.

As Notebookcheck points out, that's lower than the 5,034 mAh battery capacity we saw with the 7th-generation iPad mini, which launched in 2024. It's about 97% of what it was previously, so it's not a huge reduction.

That capacity drop needs to be balanced against everything else the new iPad mini brings with it, including an OLED screen for the first time, and a speedy A20 Pro processor (the same as you'll find in the latest iPhone 18 Pro).

Preorders for the smallest Apple tablet are open now, with shipping expected on Friday, November 6. Prices start at $699 / £699 / AU$1,099 for the Wi-Fi only model with 128GB of storage on board, and Midnight (gray) and Starlight (cream) are your color options.

Capacity downgrades can be good, actually

At first glance it might seem disappointing that the new iPad mini has a smaller battery than the old one, but that's only part of the story. As with any modern-day gadget, the battery capacity is only one of the factors affecting battery life.

Apple says the actual battery life on the new tablet hasn't changed: 10 hours between charges for surfing the web on Wi-Fi or watching video, or 9 hours of surfing the web if you're connected to the internet via a cellular connection.

So you're not losing any battery life at all — and because the capacity is smaller, the new iPad mini is slightly thinner and a little lighter than its direct predecessor. The reduction in capacity is actually a benefit.

Apple has long managed to squeeze out more battery life from smaller batteries, compared to Android manufacturers, on its phones and tablets, and the trend is continuing on the 8th-gen iPad mini.

Apple has unveiled its first OLED MacBook Pro laptops, and that means we've got a new bit of display branding: PROLED XDR. You can have the laptop in 14-inch or 16-inch variants, pre-orders are open now for shipping on or after the 6th of November — and we've gone hands-on with them. Literally, because they're also the first touchscreen Macs.

The name 'PROLED XDR' is a new piece of jargon that Apple's debuting with this machine. So what actually is it?

The short answer is that it's a 'Tandem OLED' panel, which means that it uses multiple layers of organic light-emitting diodes — in this case, two layers. Two OLED layers are better than one because the result is considerably brighter than a single-layer OLED: you literally have two OLEDs firing per pixel. It also boosts longevity, because each of the two layers doesn't have to work as hard, so they have a longer lifespan and are more likely to avoid burn-in.

Apple has stayed away from OLED for its MacBook Pro displays in the past, and clearly that's changed. According to Apple that's because PROLED XDR "finally" overcomes the traditional limitations of OLED: low and variable brightness, off-axis color shift and the risk of burn-in from displaying the same interface elements, such as toolbars and palettes, whenever the screen is on.

The confusing thing, however, is that this isn't Apple's first use of Tandem OLED. It used the technology in its shift to OLED in the iPad Pro, but those aren't branded as PROLED XDR. Those are called 'Ultra Retina XDR' displays.

So let's look at the performance differences listed by Apple that put the 'pro' in PROLED.

What's so special about PROLED XDR displays

The Tandem OLED inside the new MacBook Pros is very bright, delivering up to 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness (ie, in a small area of the screen for a short time) and up to 1,000 nits of sustained fullscreen brightness (ie, across the entire screen at once, without having to dim quickly).

The iPad Pro (2025)'s display is also capable of 1,000 nits of fullscreen brightness, but has a rated peak brightness of 1,600 nits — so the MacBook Pro is 25% brighter. That will bring a nice extra boost to clarity in bright HDR scenes, but won't make a huge difference really — the fullscreen brightness is the most important factor, and that's the same on both.

Because it's OLED, it gives you the blackest of black tones — there's no backlight to leak light into areas it shouldn't go — and a very high contrast ratio, in this case 10,000,000:1. That again is an interesting difference from the iPad Pro, which has a claimed contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1.

Why a 5x difference if the brightness is only 25% different? Apple hasn't explicitly said, but it must come down the lowest level of brightness that can be measured on the screen. Doing the math on the iPad's 1,600-nit display with a 2,000,000:1 ratio gives us a lowest brightness of 0.0008 nits. On the PROLED XDR's display, a 2,000-nit panel with a 10,000,000 contrast ratio gives us a lowest brightness of 0.0002 nits.

We can assume this is down to the new panel design, aimed at "minimizing internal reflections common in traditional OLED designs" — so less light is reflected within the panel itself, which could be the difference between those two different black levels.

But if you're looking at 0.0008 nits and 0.0002 nits and thinking the difference must be indistinguishable, then… yes, correct. They will both appear totally black to the human eye when they're supposed to. But it produces a big difference in contrast ratio, because multiplication is overdramatic.

There are other indications that the MacBook Pro's PROLED XDR display might beat the iPad Pro's in other areas. Apple says it can achieve over 80% of the BT.2020 color gamut, which suggest it's likely to hit close to 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut — the iPad Pro was measured by our lab at around 82% of DCI-P3, so that would be a clear jump here.

The screen is powered by a display engine that's been built into the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, which Apple says "continuously compensates each pixel for content, usage, temperature, and ambient conditions".

Refresh rates are variable from 10Hz to 120Hz (with discrete options for film-makers: 47.95Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, and 59.94Hz), and as we've seen with other Apple products there's a nano-texture glass option for people who'll be working in overly bright environments.

The big selling point here is reference monitor accuracy that you can take wherever you go, making these MacBook Pros ideal for video pros and mobile creatives of all kinds.

So do you need it? If you're making the next Wildwood — go see this movie, it's incredible — or working with high-res, high-quality video then these are by far the best Mac mobile laptops that Apple has ever made. But I suspect most of them will end up with people who aren't video pros, but who really like really good displays. I'd love to see Cyberpunk 2077 on one of these.

If you're technically minded Apple has put together a full technical paper on the new displays, and you can read it right here.

A brand-new iPad Mini is on the way — and preorders have started. If Apple's latest little tablet is on your shopping list and you're looking for the best place to pick one up, I've gathered together where you can buy one right here, including some of the best preorder deals and trade-in offers.

Announced earlier this week, the eighth-generation iPad mini is a much bigger upgrade than we expected. Headline new features include a sharper, brighter, and more vibrant 8.5-inch OLED Super Retina XDR screen, a powerful A20 Pro chip, improved audio, and IP67 water and dust resistance thanks to the new aluminum design.

All those upgrades do come at a more considerable cost, though, as the iPad mini starts at $699 / £699 / AU$1,099 for the standard WiFi version with 128GB of storage. That's $200 / £200 / AU$300 more than the launch price of the previous iPad mini. There are also 256GB and 512GB versions available if you want more room for files and applications.

With that increase in price, it's more important than ever to find a good deal if you want to preorder the new iPad Mini. Here are the best ones I've found so far from retailers, networks, and mobile operators — and I'll continue adding any new offers when I spot them.

iPad mini preorders in the US

iPad mini preorders in the UK

Also check...

• EE: preorders TBC
• Vodafone: preorders TBC

iPad mini preorders in Australia

• Pixelmator Pro gets a new AI-powered Generate Fill tool
• Keynote, Pages, and Numbers add AI assistants and OpenAI model support
• Final Cut Pro gains thousands of MotionVFX creative assets in November

Apple's Pro and Tell week is marching on, and alongside the reveal of the M6-powered iMac and 14-inch MacBook Pro, the Cupertino-based giant is also shining a spotlight on software. Specifically, Apple Creator Studio is getting a wide-ranging update that brings a fresh batch of features and, ultimately, packs in more value.

As it stands, Apple Creator Studio is a software subscription priced at $12.99 / £12.99 / AU$19.99 a month or $129 / £129 / AU$199 per year, giving you access to Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Pixelmator Pro, Final Cut Pro, and Logic Pro across Mac, iPad, and iPhone. All that stays the same, including the especially excellent education discount — $2.99 / £2.99 / AU$4.99 per month or $29.99 / £29.99 / AU$49.99 per year — but there are some pretty big updates here, with AI playing a starring role.

Leading the charge is Pixelmator Pro, which is getting a new Generate Fill tool. This lets you select an area of an image, describe what you want to add or change, and let AI do the heavy lifting. It's the kind of feature that could come in handy when you're editing a photo and don't want to jump between apps to get the result you're after. It'll also help level the playing field between Pixelmator Pro and Adobe Photoshop by filling a feature gap.

Keynote, Pages, and Numbers are also getting AI assistants designed to help you create presentations, write documents, and work with spreadsheets. Most interestingly, you'll be able to use OpenAI models alongside Apple's own, opening up more possibilities for working with AI in these apps. The apps also support compatible external AI tools, potentially making them a more useful part of your broader workflow.

With Final Cut Pro, Apple is bringing MotionVFX content directly into its pro video editing suite, making thousands of creative elements, including transitions, templates, effects, and titles, available for use in your projects. It's another welcome addition that should let you get more done directly inside Final Cut Pro, rather than having to rely on other tools.

All of this is coming in November as a free update for existing subscribers, though Apple isn't sharing specific timing just yet. These updates should also be right at home on the new Macs announced this week, but I'm curious to see if Apple introduces any more surprises, like the much-rumored touchscreen MacBook Pro, during its Pro and Tell event tomorrow.

It’s been an exceptionally busy few months for Apple. In just seven weeks, the Cupertino giant has refreshed its store shelves with the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone Duo, HomePod mini 2, HomeView, OLED iPad mini, iMac M6, and MacBook Pro M6.

That’s eight new products for your perusal, but by offering more choice than ever, Apple has also thrown up some unique new buying conundrums.

For instance, if it’s cheaper to buy an iPhone 18 Pro and Apple’s new iPad mini than it is to buy the iPhone Duo (spoiler: it is), should you? That’s the argument currently doing the rounds on Reddit and TechRadar sister site Tom’s Guide, where my colleague says the iPhone 18 Pro/iPad mini combo is “cheaper and better” than Apple’s first foldable.

I can absolutely see the logic in this position. The iPhone 18 Pro costs $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,099. The new OLED iPad mini costs $699 / £699 / AU$1,099. Together, they cost $1,898 / £1,898 / AU$3,198, while a single iPhone Duo costs $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,499. You’d be getting two great products instead of one, and saving $101 / £101 / AU$301 in the process.

The iPhone 18 Pro is also a better phone in many ways than the iPhone Duo. It’s thinner, lighter, has better cameras, and doesn’t rely on Touch ID. The OLED iPad mini, meanwhile, offers a Duo-comparable entertainment experience, and can even be equipped with the same Nano-Texture display technology as Apple’s first foldable. So buying the Pro and mini over the Duo is a no-brainer, right?

Well, I'm not so sure. The fundamental difference between these two purchase decisions is that one involves two devices, and the other only one. These are not like-for-like experiences. Owning and using an iPhone 18 Pro alongside an iPad mini is not comparable to the experience of owning and using a single iPhone Duo. But, crucially, the reverse is true.

The Duo is a compromise, yes, but it still offers an undeniably iPad-like experience in pocketable form. You’re paying a premium for its versatility and portability. The whole point of the Duo (and foldables generally) is that it lets you experience a tablet whenever and wherever you are. It’s like using a spork while camping to save you packing a spoon and a fork. Or buying a Range Rover Sport instead of a Ferrari and a family-sized minivan.

The new iPad mini is small, sure — but are you really going to walk around with an 8.5-inch tablet in your pocket? Tom’s Guide’s assertion that “Apple has inadvertently priced its own foldable out of the market for anyone willing to carry a small bag” makes a rather big assumption about the number of people willing to carry a small bag on their person at all times. I am not one of those people, and I don’t know many of them.

All this being said, I am no great iPhone Duo defender. For me, the compromises of getting an iPad-like experience in an iPhone-sized device are, at the time of writing, too great, and I would personally rather stick with my iPhone 18 Pro (and, yes, maybe even buy an iPad mini for watching movies in bed or on the plane).

But that does not mean I think I'd be recreating the experience of owning the iPhone Duo by buying two separate Apple products — watching movies in bed or on the plane is not the same as watching movies wherever I please.

So, yes: buying the iPhone 18 Pro and the new iPad mini might be better value for money than buying a single iPhone Duo, but value and compatibility are two different things. There’s definitely something to be said for owning one device that offers the best of both worlds, and anyone considering the iPhone Duo should remember that before being swayed one way or the other.

If you’ve been holding out hope for a new iPad mini, you could say Apple has answered the call. Ahead of its Pro and Tell experience on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 — and precisely two years and three days since it last introduced a mini tablet, the iPad mini 8.3-inch (2024) — Apple has just unveiled the eighth-generation iPad mini, starting at $699 / £699 / AU$1,099.

While rumors had suggested the new mini would get an OLED display, the update packs a bigger punch than that. But central to the refresh is indeed a larger 8.5-inch OLED Super Retina XDR screen. That’s 0.2 inches larger than the previous generation’s Liquid Retina display, made possible by Apple's design team shrinking the bezels by 24% all around while keeping the same overall dimensions.

The Super Retina XDR display is a welcome addition, promising a more immersive view with more vibrant, crisper visuals. And since the iPad mini is often touted as a device to carry around — and is even used in cockpits by pilots — it also gets a brightness boost, now topping out at 1,200 nits, which is a considerable leap over the previous mini's 500 nits. The screen still supports the P3 color gamut and Apple’s True Tone technology, which matches the display’s color temperature to your surroundings.

This new display is, however, still locked to 60Hz, so the iPad Pro remains Apple's only 120Hz-compatible iPad.

Under and around the iPad mini's OLED screen is a new ‘Acoustic Display’ that places custom-designed woofers in the screen for higher peak volume and stronger bass. Tweeters for better high-end audio are also inserted between the aluminum and glass. I’m eager to test this new audio system out, but it’s no doubt an improvement over the previous mini's stereo speakers.

Trickling down from the iPad Pro is a Nano-Texture display option. Similar to the screen technology used on the iPhone Duo — and even the iMac, MacBook Pro, and aforementioned iPad Pro — this layer can help block natural and artificial reflections.

I use it daily on a 14-inch MacBook Pro, and with that brightness boost, it'll make the new iPad mini more of a road warrior, even in harsher lighting. You'll need to opt for at least the 256GB model to add Nano Texture, though, and it's a $100 feature, bringing the iPad mini's price from $799 to $899. The tablet still starts at 128GB, which is a tad disappointing.

A big surprise addition is that the new mini's aluminum design adds IP67 water and dust resistance, making it more durable on the go and potentially a better option as a kids' tablet.

The iPad mini is also thinner and lighter than its predecessor, measuring 5.33mm thick and weighing 254g, compared to 6.35mm and 295g, respectively. For those wondering, the iPhone Duo measures the same 5.33mm when unfolded, so the Duo and mini are equal here.

Now, if you were hoping for a range of color options, Apple is slimming things down to just two. The new iPad mini comes in Starlight or Midnight, so it’s a fond farewell to Blue, Purple, and Space Gray.

Under the hood, the eighth-generation iPad mini gets a sizable leap to Apple’s 2nm A20 Pro chip, but which chip edition you get depends on your storage configuration.

The 128GB and 256GB models feature a five-core CPU (two super cores and three efficiency cores), a seven-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. The 512GB variant offers a more capable six-core CPU (two super cores and four efficiency cores), the same seven-core GPU, and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine.

If you’re upgrading from an older iPad mini or iPad, you can expect a more noticeable leap in everyday performance, from opening apps and handling daily tasks to exporting files. For those coming from the A17 Pro, Apple promises up to 60% faster multithreaded CPU performance, 4.5x faster AI performance, and 2.7x better graphics performance generation over generation.

Apple hasn’t yet confirmed the amount of memory inside the new iPad mini (we may need to wait for reviews or a teardown), but like the latest-generation iPhones, unified memory bandwidth has doubled. All of this should come together to make for an excellent experience on iPadOS 27, with full Siri AI compatibility thrown in for good measure.

And remember, the iPad mini supports the full multitasking experience iPad offers. Compared to the iPhone Duo, you can do more than just split the screen, which makes a big difference.

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread are all supported here, courtesy of the Apple-made N1 chip. If you opt for a cellular iPad mini, the C2 modem enables cellular connectivity. Apple promises it can deliver up to 50% faster data speeds compared to the previous modem in the seventh-generation iPad mini.

Lastly, the 12MP Center Stage camera remains embedded in the now-slimmer bezels around the 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR display. It still sits on the longer side of the iPad mini, like the rest of the lineup, and is joined on the rear by a 12MP camera and Adaptive True Tone flash.

The price you pay

Now, Apple has delivered solid updates across the board — a better screen, a new audio system for richer sound, a sizable performance leap, and perhaps the biggest sleeper surprise: IP67 water and dust resistance.

These upgrades do come at a higher price, though: the new iPad mini starts at $699 / £699 / AU$1,099 for Wi-Fi or $849 / £849 / AU$1,349 for Wi-Fi and Cellular. That’s a leap over the previous 7th Gen iPad mini, which started at $499 / £499 / AU$799 at launch, then jumped to $599 / £599 / AU$949 in June this year.

Even so, you get a much better-equipped processor for smooth performance in the near term and the long term, paired with a display that'll be a big jump on its own, no matter what generation you come from.

With audio improvements, a slimmer build, and a Nano-Texture display option, it feels like we're inching closer to an iPad Mini Pro. I also think the dust and water resistance upgrade will be a huge hit with families, and kids generally like the mini's smaller size.

Apple will begin taking orders for the iPad mini on October 28, 2026 — this Wednesday, if you’re counting down the days — at 10:10am PT / 1:10pm ET / 5:10pm GMT, and it will begin shipping on November 6, 2026.

It’s likely that the iPad mini could be joined by a few other devices on that launch date, but for now, it sits between the HomePod mini 2, which arrives on October 30, 2026, and the HomeView or Apple TV 4K, which lands on November 13, 2026.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the new iPad mini and see how it performs, especially compared to the previous generation, and it's small enough to go wherever I go.

As for accessories, it’ll still support the Apple Pencil Pro or the Apple Pencil USB-C, and Apple is shipping a new TechWoven Folio Case in navy blue and taupe. There’s still no official Apple Magic Keyboard, but we’ll no doubt see some third-party options.

I’m keen to know what you think about Apple’s upgrade this time around with the iPad mini, so sound off in the comments below.

If the rumors are true, next week could mark the introduction of the first-ever touchscreen MacBooks. That's a Mac laptop with a touchscreen. People will probably embrace them and, no, I don't think their arms will fall off.

Steve Jobs famously hated the concept of a touchscreen MacBook. During an October 2010 product launch, he famously dismantled the notion:

"You know, the first thing you think about is this [he gestured toward the image of someone reading out to touch a MacBook screen]. Right, we thought about this years ago. We've done tons of user testing on this, and it turns out it doesn't work. Touch surfaces don't want to be vertical. It gives a great demo, but after a short period of time you start to fatigue, and after an extended period of time your arm wants to fall off; it doesn't work. It's ergonomically terrible. Touch surfaces want to be horizontal, hence touchpads for a notebook. That's why we've perfected our multi-touch trackpads over the years."

In short:

• It doesn't work
• Touch demands horizontal screens
• Your arm gets tired
• Your arm falls off

Jobs' comments came just 10 months after he unveiled the original iPad, which did have a sort of oddball keyboard accessory that put your hands way too close to the display, and two years before Microsoft introduced its first Surface Pro computers, which were basically tablets with kickstands and detachable keyboards.

Still, Jobs drew a line in the sand, and for more than a decade, Apple toed that line. Even when Apple seemed to split the difference with the Touch Bar on the 2016 MacBook Pro, Apple executives insisted a touchscreen was not the right move for Apple's popular line of MacBooks.

As former Global Head of Marketing Phil Schiller told Steve Levy back then,

"Our instincts were that it didn’t [make sense to do a touchscreen], but, what the heck, we could be wrong—so our teams worked on that for a number of times over the years. We’ve absolutely come away with the belief that it isn’t the right thing to do. Our instincts were correct.”

But unless the rumor mill is very, very wrong, Apple is set to prove Jobs and the rest of the old guard wrong and introduce its first touch-screen MacBook Pro next week in Los Angeles.

It will be, perhaps, a recognition that all those Windows OEMs who build 2-in-1 convertibles where the screen can fold all the way onto the bottom of the laptop or even detach to become a stand-alone tablet aren't wrong. There is a market for touchscreen computers.

What would Steve say?

What, though, would Steve Jobs make of this? The iconoclastic tech maverick, who died in 2011, would surely be appalled. Apple devotees might claim, "This never would've happened on his watch." Maybe they'll unfairly blame new CEO John Ternus, an actual engineer and 25-year company veteran who must've had a hand in the development of the new, alleged, touchscreen MacBook Pro. Surely Ternus was somehow involved over what was likely a 2-to-5-year development process, but the credit or blame should lie with now Executive Chairman Tim Cook, who probably greenlit the project.

If Steve Jobs were alive today, what might he say to Cook and Ternus about this? "Well, you better sell a line of arm sling accessories for all those aching muscles!"

No. In fact, I'm certain Steve Jobs would applaud the innovation. You see, Jobs was often adamant about something until he was not. He would insist Apple had no interest in making a phone, until the company delivered the iPhone.

There was a thing called the Steve Jobs "reality distortion field" for a reason. Steve Jobs didn't think an App Store and third-party apps were needed (or at least he claimed as much) before the App Store was unveiled. Video on the iPod was a bad idea until there was the technology to support it. Then it was a great one.

Steve Jobs believed in changing his mind. In an interview Jobs gave to Playboy as he turned 30, he said, "If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away."

Jobs was more a marketer than engineer and, perhaps, more artist than tactician. In order for him to change his mind, the technology had to inspire him, or in order for him to be satisfied, he'd change the technology and specs (see the last-minute swap of the original iPhone's plastic screen cover to glass) until he was satisfied.

Sure, Jobs could say one thing on stage, and the company leadership would parrot it for years until, like Jobs, the innovation met the moment. And then, as Jobs was wont to do, change their minds.

So, if we do see our first touchscreen MacBook Pro next week, don't shed tears for Steve Jobs' discarded design principles. I'm sure he would say that this is as it should be and that a touchscreen MacBook Pro is, in fact, "magical."

• Apple tells us it will 'Pro and Tell' on October 28
• The touchscreen MacBook Pro, an iMac with M6, and an iPad mini with an OLED screen are likely incoming
• It comes in the middle of an incredibly busy product cycle for Apple

Apple’s on a roll! Just eight days after dropping the HomeView, HomePod mini 2, and Apple TV 4K, and four days before the iPhone Duo starts shipping, the Cupertino-based technology giant is teasing more.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Apple’s SVP of Marketing, Greg Joswiak, writes, “Can’t wait to pro and tell next week,” alongside an Apple logo being drawn. The same graphic was also posted to @HelloApple on Instagram with the caption, “About next week…” The latter gives us the timing and leaves us marking our calendars for a reveal similar to Apple’s recent home product launches. However, Joswiak’s post teases something Pro that could be on the horizon.

Alongside the teasers, Apple has also sent media invites for an experience in LA on October 28, 2026. That’s the same wording the company used to describe its ‘Welcome Home’ event, so I’d suspect there won’t be a formal keynote, but there will be plenty of hands-on time.

The teaser depicts the Apple logo being drawn using an array of colors, mostly silver, white, and blue, with small, vibrant pops of red, orange, and yellow. To me, it looks as though a finger could be drawing the logo, given the overall shape, or perhaps a brush of some sort is being used to create it.

Either way, it points to the likely arrival of new Macs or iPads. Remember, like most of Apple’s products, these devices feature an Apple logo on the back.

There’s been no shortage of rumors, and it’s likely that Apple will drop a significant update to the MacBook Pro family next week, finally delivering a touchscreen laptop.

That’s something the company has been pretty firm about ruling out, but it seems to have turned a corner if recent reports are to be believed. Both the new 14-inch and 16-inch models are expected to pair the first touchscreen on a Mac with an OLED display, delivering the same vibrant, rich viewing experience as an OLED iPhone or iPad Pro, all within a redesigned, slimmer notebook.

Under the hood, these flagship MacBooks will likely get Apple’s best chips, whether that’s the M6 or the M5 Ultra, which premiered with the Mac mini and Mac Studio in August 2026.

Recent reports also hint that the M6 could be coming to the iMac, which is due for an upgrade after launching with the M4 in 2024. A new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro could also arrive with a design similar to the current generation, likely featuring the M6 chip instead of the M5 for better performance across the board, particularly for AI tasks.

Alongside the Mac, the iPad could also be in the mix, potentially hinted at by the vibrant colors and what appears to be a finer, brush-drawn Apple logo. Coming shortly after the iPhone Duo starts shipping, a major iPad mini upgrade is also rumored. It could carry a considerably higher price — a reminder that the current model starts at $699 / £699 / AU$949 — and add a ProMotion OLED display, a redesigned body, and a more capable chip under the hood.

I’ve been wishing for a redesigned iPad mini with Magic Keyboard support and a better screen for a while, so this would be music to my ears, and likely to many others’ too. The iPad lineup is still in pretty good shape, with the Air and Pro models already receiving updates with better processors earlier this year. Besides the iPad mini, the only other model likely due for an upgrade is the entry-level iPad, but it’s unclear whether it will be updated next week.

Either way, we only have a few more days to wait to see what Apple has been working on. After all, the company has promised to ‘Pro and Tell.’ Let me know what you’re most excited about in the comments below.

Pre-orders for the much-anticipated iPhone Duo are set to start later tonight (11pm AEDT, October 16), but with the base 256GB model costing an eye-watering AU$3,499, it’s a big ask even for the most loyal of Apple fans.

Given the fact the iPhone Duo can feasibly be compared to an iPad when unfolded, in my mind, the better value alternative is to get an actual iPad and pair it with your current iPhone. And a great example is the 2026 model iPad Air, especially now it’s been given a rare 21% discount on Amazon Australia. That drops the price of the 128GB model to AU$987 and that's excellent value for a tablet that we called the “pro model tablet for most people”.

While our iPad Air review noted that there were no real design changes from the previous model, getting the M4 chip, extra RAM and improved connectivity make the 2026 release a much more powerful tablet than previous generations.

These upgrades should make photo and video editing, gaming, multitasking or general computing tasks a breeze, although the display’s frame rate is still, annoyingly, capped at 60Hz (compared to the iPad Pro’s 120Hz ProMotion display).

Admittedly, the 11-inch screen means this iPad is much less portable than the iPhone Duo, even when it’s unfolded, but the extra screen real estate provides the added benefit of a large, vibrant canvas for entertainment, and Apple Pencil note-taking.

While this iPad Air isn’t going to be a must-have upgrade if you already own the M3 or M2 versions from recent years, you’ll see a massive performance boost over an older iPad Air, base model iPads, and even some older iPad Pros.

And let's also do some maths, shall we? With this discount on the latest iPad Air and purchasing the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro Max for AU$2,297 is a total of AU$3,287 — that's cheaper than the starting price of the iPhone Duo! 'Nuff said!

Back in June, Apple raised the price of its iPads due to "significantly higher memory costs," but Amazon Prime Day has at least made these excellent tablets a little more affordable in the short term.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

In the US, for instance, the iPad mini 8.3-inch (2024) is now $499 (was $599), which is equal to its starting price pre-RAM crisis. Frustratingly, the same tablet has been available for as little as $399 in previous Prime Day sales, but with the RAM crisis expected to last at least another three years, the chances of ever seeing such low iPad prices again are extremely slim.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the iPad Air 11-inch (2026) is currently on sale for £669 (was £749). That's not quite as low as its pre-rise £599 price, but it's not far off. Beggars can't be choosers, as the saying goes.

Here's a roundup of all the other iPad deals currently available at Amazon in both the US and UK:

Today's best iPad deals in the US

• iPad 11-inch (2025): was $449 now $399
• iPad mini 8.3-inch (2024): was $599 now $499
• iPad Air 11-inch (2026): was $749 now $649
• iPad Air 13-inch (2026): was $949 now $849
• iPad Pro 11-inch (2024): now $2,099 now $1,899
• iPad Pro 13-inch (2024): was $1,499 now $1,299
• iPad Pro 11-inch (2025): now $1,199 now $1,099.99
• iPad Pro 13-inch (2025): was $1,499 now $1,399.99

Today's best iPad deals in the UK

• iPad 11-inch (2025): was £429 now £409.97
• iPad Air 11-inch (2026): was £749 now £669
• iPad Air 13-inch (2026): was £949 now £869
• iPad Pro 11-inch (2025): was £1,199 now £1,159

How to choose which model to buy

As for which iPad you should choose, well, that depends on your specific usage habits. We’ve got a dedicated guide to the best iPads elsewhere on TechRadar, but I'll give you a quick rundown of each model's key features here.

The iPad 11-inch (2025) is the model to choose if you want a tablet for streaming movies, scrolling social media, and FaceTiming family and friends. It's not a workhorse by any means, but with an 11-inch LED display and a capable A16 chipset, Apple's most basic iPad is still the best tablet you can get for around the $400 / £400 mark.

The smaller iPad mini 8.3-inch (2024) bumps up the power with a more powerful chipset and Apple Intelligence compatibility, but honestly, you probably won't notice these features unless you're planning on using your iPad as a productivity tool, in which case I'd recommend jumping straight to the iPad Air instead.

Why? Well, firstly, the iPad Air 13-inch (2026) is available in two more work-friendly sizes than the iPad mini. It's also got a MacBook-level M4 chipset and 12GB of RAM, so it can power through productivity-focused applications and multitask with ease.

If you plan to draw up documents, create presentations, and edit photos, the iPad Air is the model to go for — it hits the sweet spot between value and performance.

Lastly, there's the iPad Pro 11-inch (2025), which you should only be considering if you’re a digital artist or full-time video editor.

This ridiculously high-spec device has the best display of any tablet on the market (a 120Hz OLED), as well as the most powerful chipset in the Apple M5, making it perfect for 3D modeling and advanced video rendering.

If you’re not planning on doing either of those things, though, then the iPad Pro is the definition of overkill — especially at Apple's post-increase prices.

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.36
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $28
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $89
• Smartwatches: up to 36% off Garmin & Apple
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $49

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: up to 67% off Fire, Ring & Blink
• Amazon Haul: extra 15% off for Prime members
• Appliances: up to 40% off Ninja & De'Longhi
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: cleaning & groceries from £2
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: record-low Nintendo Switch 2
• Headphones: up to 50% off Anker & Sony
• Laptops: up to £800 off Microsoft & Asus
• Tablets: up to 50% off Fire tablets
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 50% off Shark & Dyson
• Wearables: Samsung & Oura from £31

• An 8th-gen iPad mini has appeared in Apple code
• The device could launch as soon as next month
• It might be joined by an updated HomePod mini

Does the official arrival of the iPhone Duo mean the iPad mini will be quietly retired? Not according to fresh Apple leaks that suggest the smallest iPad in the range will be getting a refreshed model sooner rather than later.

This will be the iPad mini 8 if you're keeping count, the successor to the iPad mini 7 that launched in October 2024, and references to it have been spotted in Apple code by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris.

The code reveals a couple of images of the upcoming iPad mini, with a landscape front-facing camera that puts it in line with the other iPads, and a small groove cut out of the top of the display glass, which is likely to be for a speaker.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the device could launch next month, matching the October scheduling for several previous iPad mini models. One of the upgrades we're expecting this time around is with water resistance.

Another HomePod mini is coming too

Of course, this will be the first iPad mini to launch in the era of the iPhone Duo, leading one Redditor to describe it as the 'iPhone Duo: unfoldable edition'. The 7th-gen iPad mini's screen measures 8.3 inches, while the iPhone Duo's main display is a similar 7.6 inches.

It seems there's still going to be space in the market for both of them — not least because the iPhone Duo's price starts at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,499 (with 256GB of storage), while for the current iPad mini it's $599 / £599 / AU$949 (with 128GB of storage).

In further Apple rumor news, the same combination — hidden Apple code found by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris — has turned up some potential new colors for the HomePod mini 2: green, pink, blue, white, and black.

That's quite the departure from the current range (yellow, orange, blue, white, and midnight), and again an October launch is likely. The first HomePod mini was unveiled all the way back in October 2020.

Huawei, as a brand, is in a very interesting place right now. The company is genuinely innovating on a lot of fronts. It just launched the Mate XT2 tri-folding phone, which brings Samsung-like Privacy Display tech to the tri-folding form factor, as well as the Watch D3, which puts medical-grade blood pressure measurements into an even slimmer smartwatch.

But the problem with Huawei has always been that you can't buy a lot of the company's devices in markets outside Asia. And while that doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon, every once in a while, Huawei does launch some products in the West, and it reminds us (again) of what we're missing from other major hardware makers.

That's exactly what happened with the new Huawei MatePad Air. I usually use my still-going-strong M1 iPad Air (2022) as my main tablet, but I've spent the past month using the MatePad Air as my primary device. And it has shown me the one upgrade Apple could make that would probably convince me to finally buy the next iPad Air.

The MatePad Air itself doesn't look like some groundbreaking new tablet. In fact, Huawei has so many tablets in its lineup that you'd probably have a hard time distinguishing the new MatePad Air from some of the company's other models just by looking at the back.

But flip the MatePad Air around, and that's where, for me, it starts beating a lot of the competition. The MatePad Air comes with a 12-inch OLED display with up to a 144Hz refresh rate and a 1,200-nit peak brightness. But the model I've been testing for the past month is the higher-end PaperMatte version, which can reach up to 2,000 nits.

If you're unfamiliar with Huawei's PaperMatte display technology, it's essentially a special anti-glare treatment on top of the display that, Huawei says, eliminates up to 99% of ambient light reflections. It also gives the screen a more paper-like texture, which feels natural when you're writing with a stylus, while also helping reduce things like eye strain and smudges.

And this display alone is what has made me prefer using the MatePad Air over my iPad Air for the past month.

Think about what you actually do with a tablet. Whether you use an iPad Pro or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, almost everything revolves around the display. You're watching content, taking notes, making video calls, or reading. For 99% of the time, you're looking at and interacting with a screen.

It's not like the iPad Air's display is bad. It's still a good-looking panel, and I've used my M1 iPad Air for years without any complaints. But Apple hasn't meaningfully upgraded the display technology in a while, and it's starting to show its age.

The iPad Air still uses an LCD panel. It's still stuck at 60Hz, and the bezels are quite thick as well. None of these things really bothered me before, but switching back and forth between it and the MatePad Air made the difference quite obvious.

The 144Hz OLED panel on the MatePad Air is obviously smoother, the colors look great, and the thinner bezels make watching content much nicer. And that PaperMatte display just makes everything twice as nice.

I've used the MatePad Air pretty much everywhere, be it the subway, airplanes, or my home, and not having reflections constantly bouncing off the screen has been great.

And it's not like Apple doesn't know how to do this. The company already offers its nano-texture display on the iPad Pro. The problem is that you need to buy one of the most expensive iPad Pro configurations (specifically, a model with 1TB or more) to even get the option, pushing the price to $1,899 / £1,899 / AU$3,249.

Huawei, on the other hand, makes the upgrade much easier to swallow. In the UK, you get the PaperMatte display regardless of which version of the MatePad Air you choose; the cheapest is just £699.99 (it's not available in the US). You're also getting 256GB of storage on the base model, compared to the 128GB starting storage on the iPad Air.

Of course, the MatePad Air isn't better than the iPad Air at everything. Apple's M-series chips still give the iPad a major performance advantage, and if I'm editing videos or doing other compute-heavy work on a tablet, I'd still rather have the iPad Air.

But most of the time, that's not what I'm doing on my tablet. I mostly use my iPad to watch content and browse the web, and for both of these things, I'd rather have the MatePad Air's display.

Plus, the hardware around the OLED display is pretty impressive, too. At 12 inches, the MatePad Air sits somewhere between Apple's 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models. It weighs just 509g and uses an aluminum frame and back, making it more than 100g lighter than the 13-inch iPad Air.

It's thinner too, measuring just 5.3mm compared to 6.1mm for the larger iPad Air, despite Huawei fitting a 10,100mAh battery inside compared to roughly 9,705mAh on Apple's tablet.

That said, none of this means I'm ready to completely ditch the iPad. I still prefer its performance, app ecosystem, and just how well it works with the rest of my Apple devices. But after a month with the MatePad Air, the one thing I desperately want to take back to my iPad is this display.

Give the next iPad Air an OLED display with (hopefully) an anti-reflective PaperMatte-like option that doesn't burn a hole in my pocket, and my M1 iPad Air might finally have a reason to retire.

Apple has traditionally kept the iPad closer to the iPhone in terms of core functionality (even after it released iPadOS as a standalone software package in 2019), but iPadOS 26 marked a distinct shift towards making the iPad feel more Mac-like.

And honestly, this change in direction made sense. After all, iPads now run MacBook-level M-series chips; the iPad Pro (2025), for instance, uses the M5. They also let you run background exports in creative apps, switch audio sources while podcasting, and complete many more high-level productivity tasks.

One excellent addition in iPadOS 26 was the arrival of the Menu Bar, which acts as a facsimile of the macOS version of the same feature. But having used iPadOS 27, which launches today (September 14), since its launch in beta earlier this year, I can confidently say that this new software package makes the iPad feel more Mac-like than ever — and the Menu Bar is once again responsible for that.

Passing the bar

As mentioned, the Menu Bar is about as Mac as it gets, offering app-specific options at the top of the iPad screen. It’s as synonymous with macOS as the Dock, and it’s one of the core features that take some getting used to when switching from a Windows PC to a Mac.

On Mac, the Menu Bar is permanent. It sits at the top of the screen for easy access and highlights which app you’re currently using (something that’s particularly useful if you’re juggling multiple apps and keyboard shortcuts), but in iPadOS 26 it wasn’t, meaning it could be just as much of a hindrance as it was a help.

Thankfully, iPadOS 27 ensures the Menu Bar is always available, and while there are still some things I wish I could do on Apple’s tablet, the ability to affix the Menu Bar permanently is a change I welcome.

To do so, once you’ve updated to iPadOS 27, open Settings and select ‘Multitasking & Gestures’ on the left-hand sidebar. You’ll have to be on the Windowed Apps or Stage Manager option to be able to see the Menu Bar.

From here, look for a toggle labelled ‘Automatically Show and Hide Menu Bar’. If it’s on, turn it off, and you’ll see the Menu Bar consistently across apps, unless you’re watching something in full-screen mode. If you get fed up with it, just toggle that ‘Automatically Show and Hide Menu Bar’ option back on, and it’ll disappear again.

Still a way to go

Once you’ve toggled that setting, you can enjoy having the Menu Bar at the top of your iPad screen, but there are some caveats to be aware of.

For one, it’s not particularly useful if you use your iPad with your finger. The Menu Bar is much more suited to using a mouse, trackpad, or the Apple Pencil. I use the Magic Keyboard and, as ridiculously pricey as it was, this feature makes my whole iPad much more useful.

The other thing to be aware of is that the Menu Bar can’t be customized with third-party apps in the same way that long-running Mac ones like Bartender can. Sadly, it remains static in terms of what you can put on the right-hand side of it. Maybe one day that’ll change, but I can’t see Apple rolling out utility apps on its iPadOS platform anytime soon.

Finally, some nifty features to be aware of: you can still drag down from the right-hand side of the Menu Bar to access the Control Center (which is customizable, thankfully), and the left-hand side still takes you to your notifications (although I do wish this was a column on the side of the screen à la the macOS notification centre, rather than taking up the whole screen).

You can also drag down from the middle of the Menu Bar to access Siri AI, which is new in iPadOS 27 and makes Apple’s voice assistant much more useful.

So, what do you think? Is this the closest we’ll ever get to a MacPad? Or are you sticking with the Mac for now and leaving the iPad for content consumption? Let me know in the comments below.

iOS 27 is now rolling out to compatible iPhones, and this year, the list of models supported by Apple's new software update is impressively long.

Typically, Apple leaves a handful of iPhones out in the cold when releasing a new version of iOS — the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max, for instance, couldn't run iOS 26 — but refreshingly, the device requirements for iOS 27 are the same as those for iOS 26.

That means the iPhone SE (2020), iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max — all of which you might have expected to lose support this year — will still be able to run iOS 27, which is an impressive showing of software support on Apple's part.

Alas, the device requirements for Apple Intelligence and Siri AI aren't so straightforward, so in this guide, we've detailed the support list for iOS 27, Apple Intelligence, Siri AI, and iPadOS 27.

iOS 27

Here’s the full compatibility list for iOS 27:

• iPhone SE (2020)
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone SE (2022)
• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 15
• iPhone 15 Plus
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 17
• iPhone 17 Pro
• iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 18 Pro
• iPhone 18 Pro Max
• iPhone Duo

iOS 27 is supported by a whopping 33 iPhone models, which, if I'm not mistaken, is the largest-ever single pool of latest-update-compatible models.

What's more, iOS 27 began rolling out to all 33 of these models in one fell swoop on September 14 — Apple didn't ask owners of older iPhones to wait, which is something we've seen Samsung do, for instance, with its One UI updates.

It’s worth noting, however, that even though older models like the iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone 13 support iOS 27, Apple Intelligence — which includes features like Clean Up, Live Translation, and Apple's new AI-powered voice assistant, Siri AI — remains locked to the iPhone 15 Pro and newer.

Siri AI

As above, only those iPhones that are already compatible with Apple Intelligence will support Siri AI. The full list is as follows (I've included iPads and MacBooks, too):

• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 17
• iPhone 17 Pro
• iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 18 Pro
• iPhone 18 Pro Max
• iPhone Duo
• iPad models with M1 or later
• MacBooks with M1 or later
• MacBook Neo

Importantly, though, not all Siri AI features will be available on those iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks.

Specifically, expressive voices and advanced dictation are limited to devices powered by Apple’s "most powerful on-device model," AFM Core Advanced. Those devices are as follows:

• iPhone 17 Pro
• iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 18 Pro
• iPhone 18 Pro Max
• iPhone Duo
• iPad Pro models from 2024 and later (7th generation onwards)
• iPad Air models from 2026 and later (8th generation onwards)
• MacBook Pro models from 2023 and later
• MacBook Air models from 2024 and later

Additionally, those iPads and MacBooks will need to be equipped with at least 12GB of memory to be capable of running advanced Siri AI features.

Importantly, Siri AI isn't available in any form on iPhones and iPads in the European Union (EU) or China: "Unfortunately, due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple will not be able to ship Siri AI in the European Union with the release of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. Over the past several months, EU regulators did not accept any of Apple’s proposed solutions to bring Siri AI to the EU while safely supporting other virtual assistants," Apple explained in a blog post.

Interestingly, though, EU users can access Siri AI on macOS 27 and visionOS 27.

So, frustratingly, you'll need to meet quite a few criteria if you're hoping to try the best version of Siri AI on your Apple device.

iPadOS 27

As for iPads, specifically, the only iPadOS 26-compatible models that don't also support iPadOS 27 are the iPad 10.2-inch (2020), iPad Air 10.5-inch (2019), and iPad mini 7.9-inch (2019).

Here’s the full compatibility list for iPadOS 27:

• iPad models from 2021 and later (9th generation onwards)
• iPad Air models from 2020 and later (4th generation onwards)
• iPad Pro models from 2017 and later (2nd generation onwards)
• iPad mini models from 2021 and later (6th generation onwards)

Side note: almost all iPad models are available in multiple sizes and in Wi-Fi-only and Wi-Fi + Cellular configurations, so, in the interest of readability, I’ve grouped the above models into dated categories.

In June, Apple unfortunately had to raise prices on its MacBook and iPad lineups due to surging RAM and component costs. Ever since the price hike, discounts have been rare, which is why today's deal on Apple's 11-inch iPad Air is a welcome surprise.

The retailer has the 2026 iPad Air M4 on sale for $649 (originally $749), which is the lowest price we've seen since Apple's price increase. So while we've seen the iPad drop to $519.99 before, the base price is now $749, which is a whopping $150 more than its starting cost of $599.

• Shop more daily deals at Amazon

In our iPad Air M4 review, we called the tablet the iPad most people should buy, thanks to its performance and price. Released in March, it packs a powerful M4 processor that Apple claims is 30% faster than its predecessor, delivering laptop-like performance and powering Apple Intelligence. The tablet also features an 11-inch LED display, Wi-Fi 7 support, LTE or 5G connectivity, and now includes 12GB of RAM. You also get 12MP front and rear cameras, Touch ID, and all-day battery life.

Save $100 on Apple's iPad Air M4

Keep in mind that today's discount is the lowest price we've seen for the iPad Air M4 since the July price hikes. Below are more of today's best Apple deals from Amazon, including impressive discounts on AirPods, the Apple Watch, and the MacBook Neo.

More of today's best Apple deals at Amazon

With a new school year almost upon us, Apple has brought back its education offer on MacBooks and iPads, making it a smart time to buy if you're shopping for some new tech.

• View all offers at Apple's Education Store

On top of small savings on several of its most popular laptops and tablets, you can also get a gift card of up to £120 with your purchase. While that can't be used on the product you're buying, you can put it towards other extras you might want, such as AirPods, accessories such as the Apple Pencil, or software like Apple Creator Studio.

One important point: you need to be an eligible student, parent, educator, or homeschooler verified on Unidays to take advantage of the offer. Once that's all set up, though, you simply go through the checkout process at the Apple Store using the same email address to prove that you qualify for the discount.

You can check out all of the best deals I've found below.

5 best Apple Education Store deals

• Virtual Mac on iPad gets macOS running on compatible iPads
• It requires a jailbroken tablet and specific versions of iPadOS
• Its many limitations mean I don’t think it’s worth the hassle

For years, people have been wondering if Apple is ever going to “merge” iPadOS and macOS into some unholy mutant operating system. While Apple has repeatedly and resoundingly denied that’s ever going to happen, one intrepid developer has taken it upon themselves to do the hard work instead. And while the result lets you run full-fat macOS on your iPad Pro or iPad Air, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but the hardiest of souls.

Dubbed Virtual Mac on iPad, this GitHub project ports macOS onto Apple’s best iPads. That means it’s nothing like Apple’s Sidecar feature, which lets you use an iPad as a second display for a Mac. In the case of Sidecar, the Mac is doing all the processing. With Virtual Mac on iPad, however, it’s your iPad that’s actually running the operating system.

Unfortunately, getting that to actually happen is more than a little convoluted. You can’t even get started unless you’ve jailbroken your iPad, which means hacking it so it can run apps and systems not authorized by Apple. As well as that, the jailbroken iPad must be running iPadOS 16 to iPadOS 16.3.1 — nothing more, nothing less — in order to harness an exploit that was patched in subsequent editions. The requirements so far will probably be enough to put a lot of people off.

If you’ve persevered, you’ll need to add a specified repository to your device and install Virtual Mac on iPad from there. But you’ll need to be aware that even with macOS successfully set up, you won’t be able to log into your Apple Account — since you’re using a jailbroken device with an unofficial port of macOS, you’ll run into problems if you try to sign in, putting features like Find My and iCloud syncing out of reach.

Is it worth it?

Why would you go to all this effort to run macOS on your iPad? Well, there are a few reasons, including accessing Mac-only apps and getting a more portable platform to run macOS on.

But I certainly don’t think it’s a good idea. Apple’s iPadOS and macOS systems have been designed for very different use cases, and simply shoehorning a platform designed for a Mac onto an iPad isn’t a guarantee of success.

For one thing, macOS is made for large screens and input devices like mice and keyboards, while iPadOS works best on smaller screens operated by your fingers and thumbs. Sure, there’s some crossover — I’m aware that you can use mice and keyboards with an iPad, for example — but that doesn’t escape the fact that Virtual Mac on iPad puts the Mac’s operating system on a device it was never intended for.

As well as that, it requires a lot of effort for seemingly very small rewards. There are only a handful of cases where installing Virtual Mac on iPad is worthwhile, at least in my opinion: accessing apps like Xcode and Terminal that aren’t available in iPadOS, for example, or getting macOS on the most portable device possible.

But Apple’s best MacBooks are still lightweight and easy to carry around, and with a touchscreen MacBook Pro rumored to be just around the corner and Sidecar already a thing, the need for something like Virtual Mac on iPad feels limited. Is it worthwhile to go to all this trouble just for an ounce more portability? I’m sure it is for some people, but that number is likely to be vanishingly small.

At the end of the day, I know there will be some people for whom this is a welcome development. But its complicated installation process and limited use case just reinforce for me that Apple is absolutely right not to merge iPadOS and macOS. They’re meant to be separate, just as Apple intended.

Apple's long-rumored product leasing program, which it calls unironically "Apple Upgrade," is finally here, and it looks like a low-cost way to slide into the Apple ecosystem whether on the shiny surface of a gleaming iPhone 17 Pro, a Snoopy-faced Apple Watch, a clamshell Apple Silicon Mac, or an ultra-slim iPad Pro.

With no upfront fee and monthly charges as low as $11.99 a month (it's only available in the US for now), your new Apple Watch might cost you far less than your daily Starbucks mocha latte.

Honestly, this sounds like a great program, especially when you can snap up a powerful MacBook Pro for as little as $38.99 a month. Naturally, most people might be looking at the Upgrade program, a leasing program actually run by Klarna, for their next iPhone and probably the popular iPhone 17 Pro Max, which starts at $34.99 a month. Still, when I asked on a pair of social media platforms (X and Threads) if people would be leasing their next iPhone, the sentiment was decidedly negative.

On Threads and with 199 votes in, 80% said no. On X, with 105 votes, 78% said nah. I was surprised, but some of the responses to my anecdotal polls offered a little insight.

One thing a few talked about was ownership. Apple Upgrade works like most other lease programs, which means ownership is not really a thing. Here are the highlights:

• You have to qualify for the program (might be a credit check)
• You pay a fixed fee for 12, 24, or 36 months
• You're not paying off the cost of the phone
• At the end of the lease term, you own nothing
• You can return the phone
• You can turn it in for an upgrade and continue paying
• A better device (upgrading from an iPhone 17 to an iPhone 17 Pro Max) will increase your monthly fee
• You can buy the leased device at the end of the lease term (it's the full price minus whatever you've paid thus far via the lease program)

Virtually every part of this resembles a typical lease program you might have with an automobile.

"I have an Apple Card for a reason… I like being able to pay it off whenever and ACTUALLY own the thing," wrote brianniesniak on Threads.

The ownership argument is the sole reason I've never leased a car. I always buy them with a substantial down payment and then pay the rest off. Of course, I tend to hold onto my cars for a decade or more. In the world of technology, like smartphones, laptops, watches, and tablets, technical advances are so rapid that it rarely makes sense to hold onto them for that long.

On the other hand, there are people who own their tech for extraordinarily long times and only upgrade when companies like Apple, Microsoft, or a necessary third-party application force them to through lack of support. These days, many companies, including Samsung and Google, tout years of OS and security updates, but in a world of leases, none of that really matters. Every two years, you could have a new device; it will always have the latest software and security protections.

Access for all

"If you can’t buy it, you can’t afford it," argues Mrmarchall on Threads. I mean, isn't that the whole point of credit and lease programs? They throw open the doors of access to these products to those who don't have the funds to cover full purchase. Yes, there is the risk of someone who unexpectedly is unable to afford the lease, and then, if they try to leave the program, they're still on the hook for the remainder of the program (they leave at 3 months and still have to pay 21 months).

Even though most in my poll respondents were anti-lease, some saw the obvious benefits. "People who picked no, you seriously have $1000 laying around?" wrote Ajvizz on Threads.

"Yeah, probably. I can't personally think of any negatives in my situation," surmised Dilpickle1 on Threads.

Others on X pointed to the excellent option of refurbished iPhones, which offer access to pre-owned iPhones (sometimes higher-end models) at far more reasonable prices. And you get the added benefit of true ownership, if that's your thing.

The endless age of subscriptions

Apple Upgrade's inherent lack of ownership and never-ending payments because you're in an endless upgrade cycle does raise some concerns and correlates to an unfortunate and rapidly growing trend.

"It is absolutely crazy that we have entered the era of leased consumer electronics. "Everything is a subscription!" should not be the new normal," wrote Tech Journalist Matthew Keys on X.

I had to agree. Last year I wrote about tech services subscription culture and how companies are now often placing key features behind subscription paywalls. At least in this instance, you're getting the whole device and all its capabilities. The lease only equates to a subscription in that there's an assumption you will jump from one leased device to another, hence the name "Apple Upgrade".

If I were asked, I think I'd look more positively on Apple Upgrade.

Smartphones, laptops, smart watches, desktop computers, and tablets are, in some ways, a fact of life. No one leaves home without a phone in their pocket. Frustration over aging iPhones that can't support the latest OS or whose battery life ends faster than a summer vacation is all too real. The knowledge that with a relatively affordable monthly payment, you're guaranteed a better phone in 24 months might be a relief.

It's an irrefutable fact that as soon as you unbox your shiny new iPhone, it's worth less than it was seconds before. Those who buy cars know that depreciation, which begins the moment you drive it off the lot, is real. It's no different with consumer electronics. Maybe ownership isn't all it's cracked up to be. So what if joining Apple Upgrade means, for the next 24 months, Apple kind of owns you?

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11: Two-minute review

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 is the brand’s answer to the iPad Air, with its premium design and compact form factor.

It certainly looks the part, taking cues from Apple with its sleek and minimalist aesthetic. It only comes in two colors — or rather shades, since it’s merely a choice between Grey and Silver. My review unit was the former, and I have to say that I enjoyed its classy appearance.

Beyond this, Samsung has also nailed the S11’s build quality. The one-piece metal chassis feels as expensive as they come, thanks to its incredibly smooth texture (so be careful when holding it) and supreme solidity. It easily ranks among the best tablets in terms of sheer construction.

The display, however, is less impressive. At 11 inches, content already feels squeezed, but the thick inner bezel only exacerbates the issue. What’s more, it's a magnet for dust and debris, while the grabby touchscreen is far from class-leading.

Thankfully, the included S Pen fairs better than fingers. There’s no dragging with the stylus, as it glides effortlessly across the screen. It’s also perfectly responsive and comfortable to grip, thanks to its ergonomic hexagonal form that provides extra security.

As with Samsung’s smartphones, the S11 features numerous first-party apps, which vary in their usefulness. Many fail to offer anything over and above Google’s suite of apps (which also come preinstalled), although I have to concede that some of the AI features, such as those for editing images, impressed me with their effectiveness. The One UI operating system is as clear and as stable as you could hope an Android fork to be, too.

The overall performance of the S11 is also impressive. Whether you're working, browsing, streaming content or even gaming, it can seemingly handle it all. What’s more, it does so while staying relatively cool; only parts of the rear heat up, and never to an uncomfortable degree.

The battery life of the S11 measures up well against its rivals. Samsung claims it can survive 18 hours of continuous streaming, whereas the iPad Air can only manage 10. Charging is quick, too, thanks to its 45W wired charging support.

There are certainly things to like about the S11, such as its premium design and excellent all-round performance. However, the touchscreen is somewhat disappointing. On balance it’s a little hard to recommend over the iPad Air given it it's slightly dearer, but if you want an Apple-inspired design while remaining in the Android realm, the S11 is far from a terrible choice.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 review: Price & availability

• Starts from $899.99 / £869 / AU$1,399
• Available now in two colors
• Very expensive for a small tablet

The S11 starts from $899.99 / £869 / AU$1,399 and is available now in two colorways: Grey and Silver. The base model features 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. All models come with Samsung’s S Pen. If you want cellular capability, you’ll need to part with an additional £50 / AU$250. US customers only get the Wi-Fi-only model.

This is undeniably expensive for an 11-inch tablet, even one as premium as the S11. An equivalent iPad Air model bundled with the Apple Pencil currently costs slightly less. What’s more, it’s one of the best tablets we’ve reviewed, thanks to its excellent performance and display.

If you want to stick with Android, the OnePlus Pad Go 2 is a great budget alternative to the S11. It comes in at a mere $399.99 / £319 (around AU$570), yet still has a respectable spec and impressive performance. It may have less RAM (8GB), but we still found it capable enough for everyday use.

• Value score: 3/5

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 review: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 review: Display

• Slight lack of fidelity
• Thick bezel
• Grabby touchscreen

Despite the high 1600 x 2560 resolution of the S11, there’s a slight but noticeable softness and fuzziness to some elements of the UI, as if the resolution is stretched a little too thin for this size of display. This also means that Ultra HD content isn’t quite as pinpoint sharp as you might expect. Thankfully, there’s plenty of brightness and colors are vibrant, so it still makes for a pleasurable viewing experience.

The thickness of the bezel is also disappointing. At 11 inches the display is already small, so you’d think Samsung would want to maximize its real estate to its fullest potential, but instead a thick black border constricts the frame even more.

Perhaps the worst aspect of the display, though, is its touchscreen functionality. I found there was too much friction to perform gestures and swipes easily. What’s more, it’s also prone to attracting debris, more so than other tablets I’ve used. This is not only a visual impediment but no doubt affects the performance of the touchscreen, too.

• Display score: 3.5/5

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 review: Design

• Fabulously premium design
• Compact and relatively light
• Slippery back panel

To say that the S11 takes inspiration from the iPad Air is an understatement. It’s virtually indistinguishable from Apple’s compact tablet, but this isn’t exactly a bad thing, given its stylish looks. However, the S11 lacks the same vibrant color options, with only grey and silver to choose from. My unit was the former and it still looked smart and sleek though.

But the resemblance is more than skin deep. The metal chassis feels just as high-grade as the iPad’s; in fact, it might actually be a cut above the best iPad constructions. The back panel folds around to form the edges, rather than being created from two separate pieces, which is very impressive. On the front, the join to the screen is also close to seamless.

It’s also reassuringly solid and durable, as well as being incredibly smooth. This latter aspect is a slight issue, though, since it can feel quite slippery, so you'll need to take care when holding it upright. At least it’s comfortable to hold, owing to its compact dimensions, minimal weight, and generously rounded corners.

The included S Pen is a fairly basic affair but I found its hexagonal design comfortable and secure. It features a well-placed and easy-to-use button, which is used like a ‘right-click’ to bring up context menus in apps and in the OS itself.

Both of the tablet’s long sides are magnetic, so can be used to attach the S Pen, which is convenient. It’s a shame that the top edge isn’t, though, since it can be awkward to hold the tablet in portrait mode when the stylus is attached to the side. The magnetic hold is strong without making it difficult to remove the stylus when needed.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 review: Software

• Numerous first-party apps
• Their usefulness varies
• OS is clear and fast

Plenty of Samsung apps are preinstalled on the S11. You’ll have to create a Samsung account to use them, which is a frustrating barrier for using any app. At least it’s easy to set one up if you already have a Google account, as you can use these credentials instead.

Although there’s a lot of them, the first-party apps are mercifully unintrusive. And since this is the year 2026, there are plenty of AI features, too. The most interesting of these is the photo assist mode, which allows you to effortlessly edit images to remove certain elements — such as photobombers and unwanted objects — and add others in based on text prompts.

I have to say I was impressed by this mode when I tested it on photos I shot. As with all things AI, its results aren’t perfect every time, but for rescuing images from unwanted aspects and adding all kinds of extra content, it’s a capable and easy-to-use tool. You can also stylize images by selecting presets, of which there are several, from Anime to Pop Art. Again, this is effective a lot of the time, but not always.

There’s also a drawing app with enough basic illustration features to please budding artists. It’s intuitive to use and it was fast and stable during my time with it, without any glaring bugs or slowdowns occurring.

More basic productivity apps are included as well, such as a note taker and a calendar. The main issue with these — and indeed any first-party Android apps that aren’t owned by Google — is that they fail to outperform Google’s counterparts. And given Google’s cloud platform is similarly superior, you’re much better off using its apps if you plan on working across multiple devices.

One UI 8.5 is an intuitive and amenable operating system. As you might expect, it’s very similar to its smartphone counterpart, which is part of the reason why the Galaxy models are some of the best phones around. The UI is clear and uncluttered, and it's quite easy to navigate and adjust settings.

It’s also easy to resize app windows and move them around on screen, since the options to toggle between fullscreen and pop-out windows, as well as minimize them altogether, are ever-present in the top-right corner of every app, just like a desktop app.

However, I found switching between windows in gesture mode too awkward and slow. After dragging from the bottom of the screen, you have to hold your finger in place for a long time until all your app windows are displayed for selecting. What’s more, that aforementioned grabbiness of the touchscreen makes the action even more difficult. I much preferred using the navigation bar, with its three buttons at the bottom much simpler and quicker to use.

• Software score: 3.5/5

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 review: Performance

• Capable all-round performance
• Fluid and responsive S Pen
• Low-fidelity cameras

The S11 performs well at the kinds of tasks you’d expect from a tablet. It can handle web browsing, light productivity, and 4K streaming without any frustrating slowdowns and stutters.

I was pleasantly surprised with its gaming prowess, too. I managed to play Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal, a fairly demanding mobile game, without issue. It looked great and ran very smoothly, while my controller worked flawlessly over Bluetooth.

What’s more impressive is that the S11 stays relatively cool during such intensive tasks. A few hotspots appear on the back, but these are far from alarming in my experience, with the tablet remaining comfortable to hold.

Despite the aforementioned touchscreen issues, I’m pleased to report that the S Pen fairs a lot better on the screen. Glides and gestures are frictionless and responsive, making it great for all kinds of scenarios, from basic navigation to drawing and note taking. The palm block feature works as intended, too.

Using the S Pen also gives you access to a handy shortcut menu with selectable functions such as screen drawing and AI search. You can also add your own app shortcuts to this menu, which is convenient.

Despite the impressive image editing capabilities, the cameras in the S11 are disappointing. The low megapixel count means photos lack fidelity, and the basic enhancements available in the camera app can’t fix the lackluster quality of the camera hardware.

• Performance score: 4/5

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 review: Battery

The battery life of the S11 is impressive. While its 8,400mAh battery has a lower capacity than the the 11,600mAh one in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, the smaller tablet is less power-hungry.

After a couple of days, it drained to 30%. My use during this time wasn’t constant, but I did use it for a variety of tasks, from productivity and browsing to streaming and gaming. Samsung claims it can stream continuously for 18 hours, and the brand is usually accurate on such matters. This makes it significantly more enduring than the iPad Air, which can last about 10 hours under similar conditions.

Charging the S11 is a quick affair, too, thanks to its 45W wired charging capability, the same as the Ultra’s. It took about a couple of hours to fully replenish in my experience.

• Battery score: 4.5

Should I buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11?

Scorecard

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 review: Also consider

How I tested the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11

• Tested for several days
• Used for a variety of task
• Tablet reviewing experience

I tested the S11 for several days. I used it for a variety of tasks, from general browsing and light productivity to streaming and gaming.

I also used the included S Pen for drawing, writing, and navigation. I tried its various first-party apps and AI features, and tested the cameras by taking photos and holding video calls. I wasn’t able to use the S11 with the optional Book Cover Keyboard, though.

I have experience reviewing tablets and other mobile devices, such as smartphones and laptops. I’ve also used such devices personally for decades.

• Read more about how we test
• First reviewed: July 2026

• Apple has ended a popular loophole used when buying an iPhone
• It previously let you get an unlocked iPhone on carrier finance
• The workaround still works when purchasing an iPad

For many years, there’s been something of an open secret among Apple fans who want to get a new, fully unlocked iPhone deal with affordable carrier financing. Now, though, Apple has ended this workaround, much to the dismay of the Apple userbase — but there’s better news if you’re thinking of getting an iPad on finance.

The iPhone loophole worked like this. While buying an iPhone on finance from a carrier usually meant it was locked to that provider, buying the same device straight from Apple’s website — even when using carrier financing — got you an unlocked phone.

This applied to both T-Mobile and Verizon contracts, although AT&T users were still locked to their carrier. It meant that you could get the benefit of a generous financing offer or trade-in deal without having to stick with one carrier until your device was paid off.

Now, Apple has changed its terms. In the Frequently Asked Questions section on any iPhone purchase page, Apple has inserted some new language: “If you choose to finance an iPhone through the AT&T Installment Plan, T-Mobile Equipment Installment Plan, or Verizon Device Payment Program, your iPhone will be locked to the carrier until paid in full.”

The change hasn’t gone down well with Apple users, who have been lamenting the more restrictive practices that are now in force. On Reddit, comments have ranged from “no idea why carrier locking is still legal,” while another posted commented that the situation is “sad, I was buying phones this way since 2022.”

This situation is not present in every country. Since December 2021 in the UK, regulators have prohibited mobile networks from selling new handsets that are locked to their network. Go to Apple’s UK online store and you won’t see the wording about an iPhone being locked or unlocked.

Better news for iPad buyers

If you’re still interested in getting an Apple device on finance, there’s another option, as Apple has just introduced a 36-month option when buying any of the best iPads equipped with Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity direct from Apple. This offer appears at checkout on Apple’s website and is available for the iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air and iPad Pro.

While Apple offers interest-free financing using Apple Card, that spreads the cost over 12 months. The 36-month option means your monthly repayments will be lower, although you also have to factor in the additional cost of cellular service and any extras like an activation fee.

Your current options are AT&T or Verizon. Interestingly, though, you won’t be locked to the carrier while the repayment period is ongoing, as Apple says “You can switch carriers when you purchase an iPad directly from Apple and choose carrier financing as your payment option.” That makes this iPad deal very similar to the recently shuttered iPhone workaround, and it’s unknown if or when Apple will end this loophole.

Aside from Apple, you can also buy an iPad with a 36-month financing plan from carriers. And as noted by AppleInsider, this sometimes involves bill credit or other offers that lower the cost of the iPad, meaning you could get a better deal by not going through Apple itself — although doing so likely means you’ll be locked into using that carrier, rather than being free to switch when buying from Apple. As ever with this sort of thing, shop around to see if you can get a bargain.

It was the news none of us wanted to hear, but at the turn of the new financial year in Australia, Apple made the move to raise Australian prices across its entire product lineup. The tech giant has often been better than other tech companies at absorbing increased supply-chain costs, but the current RAM and component crisis meant it could no longer hold out.

Perhaps the biggest and most upsetting increase affected the delightfully affordable MacBook Neo, but even the iPad wasn’t immune, with the company’s entry-level iPad (A16) seeing its price surge to AU$749, an increase of AU$150.

If you were hoping to grab one for yourself, but were put off by the increase (we wouldn’t blame you), then Amazon could have just answered your prayers, as it has knocked it back down to its pre-increase price of AU$599.

OK, so this might not be the absolute best iPad discount ever — it dropped to AU$499 during the recent EOFY sales — but for Amazon to bring the asking price back down to its longtime RRP is worth shouting about.

At its previous full price of AU$599, we could confidently say that the iPad 11-inch (2025) ranks as the best iPad for most people and the best cheap tablet overall.

Not only does the aforementioned A16 chip mean it’s quick in use, but a 10-hour battery life and crisp 10.9-inch screen make it a stellar choice for scrolling, streaming, video calling and light gaming.

Amazon has only discounted the 128GB variant, and while the Cellular model also gets a discount, it’s nowhere near as impressive as the Wi-Fi-only alternative. Do note, however, that the AU$150 saving only applies to the silver and pink models. The blue colourway is down to AU$699, while yellow has been left untouched.

I don’t expect this discount to last forever, and it’s anyone's guess if and when it’ll receive a similar saving in the future. If you missed out during EOFY and weren’t taken by the Prime Day price, this is an opportune time to pounce.

The recent Apple price hike has sent the cost of the latest iPads spiralling in recent weeks. For the foreseeable future, it's looking like iPad deals may be tougher to come by for Apple fans on a budget.

Not all is lost, however, as I've just spotted a fantastic deal on a slightly older iPad Air model at Best Buy. Right now, you can get the still-great iPad Air 11 with the M3 chipset for $499 (was $749) thanks to a $250 price cut at the retailer.

While it's no longer the latest model, the M3 iteration is just one generation behind. It's still an excellent tablet by almost any metric I can think of — performance, design, display, and even battery life.

I haven't seen the latest Apple iPad Air M4 drop below $749 since the price hikes were announced a few weeks ago. Subsequently, deals on the last-gen devices are looking increasingly attractive. If you can snatch a decent clearance deal (like this Best Buy listing), then it's definitely worth considering.

Today's best Apple iPad Air deal

• See more: check out all of today's tablet deals at Best Buy

Is the iPad Air M3 still worth buying?

The M3 is an older model now, but it's still an excellent tablet by any metric in 2026. The latest model features a quicker chipset (up to 30%) and more RAM, but in terms of display and overall design, it's virtually identical to the M3 version.

Both feature standard 60Hz Liquid Retina LED displays with 500-600 nits of max brightness. That's perfect for everyday browsing, streaming, or taking notes and doodling with the Apple Pencil. If you're just doing the basics, then there's really no reason to stretch for the latest model — the M3 is more than capable and will save you significantly.

Where the latest M4 chipset model pulls ahead is in things like heavy video rendering tasks, high-end gaming, or AI integration. As a newer model, it should also get one more year of guaranteed software updates over the M3 iteration. Apple typically supports iPads for five to seven years with major iOS updates, for the record.

• Apple will reportedly refresh its iPad Pro line in early 2027
• The main change is likely to be a new chipset, but it's uncertain whether the M6 or M7 will be used
• It's also very likely that these will be extremely expensive tablets

It will soon be a year since the last iPad Pro models launched, but if you were hoping for successors this year, you’re probably out of luck, as a new report suggests we won’t see new models until 2027.

According to reputable Apple tipster Mark Gurman, writing for Bloomberg (via MacRumors), the company will launch new 11-inch and 13-in iPad Pro models in ‘spring’ 2027 — presumably meaning sometime between March and May.

Apparently, their designs won’t be changed much, but the internals will be updated, with a new chipset and potentially a vapor chamber to help keep them cool.

However, which chipset they’ll use remains uncertain — the iPad Pro 11-inch (2025) and iPad Pro 13-inch (2025) both have an M5 chipset, so we’d expect at least an M6. But according to this Bloomberg report, Apple will debut its M7 chipset “as early as the first half of 2027.” So if that’s out in time for the next iPad Pro’s launch, there’s a chance it will be included.

Either way, this should be a very powerful tablet, but if it does launch with an M6 chipset only for Apple to announce the M7 soon after, that might make it less desirable than it could otherwise be.

A pricey prospect

The bigger concern about the next iPad Pro, though, is how much it might cost. The ongoing RAM crisis recently caused Apple to raise the prices of many of its devices, including iPads, and since the 9-month-old iPad Pro 2025 has shot up in price, there’s no doubt that 2027’s iPad Pro models will launch at a very high price too.

Exactly how high is uncertain, though. For reference, the iPad Pro 2025 series now starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$1,999, so the iPad Pro 2027 will almost certainly cost at least that much. But if RAM prices keep increasing, then it’s feasible that it could cost even more — especially with inflation and a new chipset.

So, you might want to get saving — or just make do with your old tablet for a while longer, especially if you upgraded in the last few years.

• Apple has raised prices across multiple categories in Australia
• The MacBook Neo has lost some of its entry-level appeal
• The move follows rising RAM and storage costs

Australian shoppers looking for after EOFY offers, or waiting for early Amazon Prime Day tech deals, now have another price shift to factor in. Apple has raised local prices across several major product categories, including the new MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, iPad range, Apple TV 4K, HomePod mini and more.

The timing is awkward, but it also hasn't come from nowhere. Apple has usually been better than most tech companies at absorbing supply chain pressure before it reaches shoppers, though the current RAM and component crunch has been dragging on for long enough to change that calculation.

The warning signs came last month, when Tim Cook flagged "significantly higher memory costs" on an earnings call, then said RAM prices would "drive an increasing impact" on Apple products from this month.

Australian buyers will feel this

One of the clearest examples is the new MacBook Neo, Apple's lower-cost MacBook model and the machine most likely to appeal to students, or anyone trying to get a new Apple laptop for less than MacBook Air money. In Australia it launched with a price from AU$899. It now starts at AU$1,049, so it has lost some of its entry-level appeal.

Sure, it’s still Apple's cheapest laptop, but the higher starting price makes it less competitive against Windows laptops that have been fighting to compete with the Neo. The 512GB model with Touch ID has also gone from AU$1,099 to AU$1,249.

The MacBook Air has lost some of its competitive edge, and the 13-inch model with the M5 chip (check out our MacBook Air 13-inch M5 review) has jumped from AU$1,799 to AU$2,099 to start.

The 15-inch model is up by the same AU$300 amount, from AU$2,199 to AU$2,499. For a laptop that often sits in the middle of Apple's consumer Mac range, that is a significant hit to its value proposition.

The MacBook Pro increases are especially notable in some configurations. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 now starts at AU$3,199, up from AU$2,699, and the higher-end M5 Max models have also moved up by several hundred dollars. Buyers looking at extra memory or storage were already dealing with expensive upgrades, so the higher base prices only make that decision harder.

The Mac mini is another notable hit. It has gone from AU$999 to AU$1,299, which is a 30% increase on a machine that has often been one of the easier Apple desktops to justify on price.

The iPad range is up, which matters for students, families and anyone who was looking at a new tablet for work, study, travel or general use. The 11-inch iPad Air now starts at AU$1,249, up from AU$999, while the standard iPad, iPad mini and iPad Pro models have also increased.

The rises are not limited to Macs and iPads. HomePod mini has gone from AU$149 to AU$199, HomePod is up from AU$479 to AU$549, and Apple TV 4K has jumped from AU$219 to AU$299. Vision Pro was already a niche product at AU$5,999, and the new AU$6,299 starting price certainly does not broaden its appeal.

Apple's iPhone lineup, Apple Watch and AirPods appear to have avoided this round of increases at least. That helps limit the pain for some buyers, but it doesn’t change the issue for anyone who was waiting to buy a Mac, iPad or other Apple device.

Aussie price changes

Of course, Apple is not the only company dealing with higher memory and storage costs, but the scale of these changes is still pretty notable. Price rises across one or two products are easy enough to explain. Price rises across most of Apple’s range are not something that’s easily avoided.

An Apple spokesperson said: “The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac. We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions.”

The main question is whether the Australian prices come back down if the RAM shortage eases, or whether these higher starting points become normal. We are hopeful, but Apple hasn’t promised a reversal.

For now, local retailers may be worth checking more closely, especially if older stock or short-term deal pricing remains available during EOFY and early Prime Day sales periods.

Other Apple deals

These products haven't gone up in price, but they're still great deals. Note, the prices were last checked on July 1, 2026.

Well, we saw this coming: Apple just announced major price hikes across its product portfolio, meaning popular devices like the MacBook and iPad are getting more expensive.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

In fact, they’ve already gotten more expensive — the Apple store went offline this morning and reappeared an hour later with the new product prices. These increases are a response to “an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage,” Apple confirmed to TechRadar, adding that “we have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices.” Sigh.

As TechRadar’s Phones and Tablets Editor, I’m particularly irked by the fact that the iPad Air now starts at $749 / £749 — that’s a $150 / £100 increase over its former $599 / £599 starting price, which taints its appeal as an affordable all-rounder.

The iPad Air has long been my go-to tablet recommendation for most people, but at this new price, I’m more inclined to recommend the iPad 11-inch (2025), which continues to start at a comparatively cheap $349 / £329.

The good news among all this doom and gloom is that Amazon’s annual Prime Day sale is happening right now, and several excellent Prime Day iPad deals are live in both the US and the UK. The iPad Air is among these discounted Apple tablets, so if you’ve been considering buying one, I’d recommend doing so ASAP — it may never be this affordable again.

For more details on Apple's iPad price increases, head to the bottom of the page.

Today's best iPad deals in the US

• iPad 11-inch (2025): was $349 now $299
• iPad mini 8.3-inch (2024): was $499 now $399
• iPad Air 11-inch (2026): was $599 now $519.99
• iPad Air 13-inch (2026) (256GB): was $899 now $789
• iPad Pro 11-inch (2025): now $999 now $899
• iPad Pro 13-inch (2025): was $1,299 now $1,199

Today's best iPad deals in the UK

• iPad 11-inch (2025): was £329 now £310
• iPad mini 8.3-inch (2024): was £499 now £475
• iPad Air 11-inch (2026): was £599 now £578.99
• iPad Air 13-inch (2026): was £799 now £768.99
• iPad Pro 11-inch (2025): was £999 now £944
• iPad Pro 13-inch (2025): was £1,299 now £1,242.25

Full iPad price changes

Here's a rundown of Apple's iPad price changes in full:

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: £90 off PlayStation 5
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Laptops: from £149
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura